


Stand, Two

by Aly_H



Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Gambling, Headaches & Migraines, Jedi Training (Star Wars), Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Set Pre-Revan reveal, Smuggler Background, The Force, pazaak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 10:26:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18179411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aly_H/pseuds/Aly_H
Summary: Carth finds himself worrying over newly trained Jedi Shaya Dakari as yet another mystery is added to the pile - how does someone have to learn how to play pazaak twice in one lifetime?





	Stand, Two

**Author's Note:**

> There's some personal headcanons are involved about how it'd be interesting if the Revan persona was "leaking" through in more ways than just the visions and causing a sort of imbalance that creates unique difficulties in using the Force for Shaya.

“CARTH!” Mission’s voice ringing out loudly across the hold startled him into a full stop suddenly enough that the Jedi walking behind him didn’t have time to avoid walking into him. He felt a little sorry for Bastila as she stepped back, rubbing her nose from where it’d jarred against the material of his armor.

“What is it, Mission?” he asked.

He tried to keep the tired tone out of her voice. Anyone would be tired if they spent the better part of hours debating flight paths with Bastila Shan.

The fourteen year old twi’lek had a way of reminding him that he had a son out there that had grown up without him. He was pretty sure it was just the age, he couldn’t remember Dustil having half as much energy as Mission.

Said energy was currently being put towards a pazaak game with their resident smuggler-turned-soldier-turned-Jedi-in-training.

Shaya had picked up the game on Taris, funding the vast majority of their exploits on the now-gone world with her winnings. He wasn’t sure if he approved of her gambling but given how frequently she won it didn’t seem to be a problem and it was something to do in the empty hours of space travel that kept their teenager twi’lek out of trouble too.

“I think I broke Shay,” Mission said. “I’ve won the last three games. And she stood on a _two_ last set.”

“I’m not broken. I just hit the wrong button,” Shaya Dakari rolled her eyes, playing one of her cards to take her to twenty for that hand. “I just found another something to dump on my pile of mysteries.”

“Just one more?”

“Hey, you’re Mister Paranoia, not me,” she rolled her eyes. “It’s just…I _remember_ winning pazaak games. Years back.”

“…but you didn’t know how to play before on Taris,” Carth frowned.

“Yeah, but I’ve been a smuggler since I was seventeen. How did I go that long never learning to play? Every spacer from here to Rishi knows the damn game. Why would I remember playing but didn’t remember _how_?” She pressed a hand to her temple, her mouth thinning into a grim line. “I think I feel sick.”

 “Carth said you were unconscious after _the Endar Spire_ ,” Bastila’s voice was surprisingly gentle. “You may have suffered some memory loss. You’ll only hurt yourself if you keep pushing your mind the way you are.”

There was a flat stare leveled at her and a tightness in the ex-smuggler’s jaw that belied that she didn’t believe the explanation.

It didn’t really sound like the truth to him either, but it _was_ plausible, wasn’t it? Shaya had been out for a while and it hadn’t been safe to find medical treatment.

“Alright, Bastila,” she said – “I’ll give it a rest for now.”

“You’re going to be terribly stubborn about this, aren’t you?” Bastila shook her head before continuing on through the _Hawk_ , probably looking for somewhere quiet so she could meditate without anyone – curious twi’leks and invading gizkas included - pestering her.

Mission’s expression had gone concerned while she’d watched the exchange between the two women: Shaya Dakari was their leader. Even more so than Bastila was, when things started going wrong even _he_ found himself looking at the woman for direction. And, despite her pride, he knew that the more experienced Jedi did as well.

“C’mon,” he sighed, setting a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get you something to eat. You’ll feel better after. You probably just forgot to eat enough again.”

It wouldn’t be the first time. Jedi were fully capable of subsisting on next to nothing except the Force if pushed but when they didn’t have to their bodies burned through calories faster than a Hutt’s spice.

And Shaya wasn’t _used_ to being a Jedi. Not yet. She didn’t always remember to take care of herself like one.

Plus there was something _off_. He hadn’t spent that much time around Jedi, sure, but he was pretty sure that meditations weren’t meant to end in nosebleeds and fainting spells. It couldn’t be normal for a Jedi capable of the Force tricks that Shaya was in a fight to have difficulty moving datapads across tables without bouts of nausea.

“Can look after myself, flyboy,” she complained, but let him walk her over and sat quietly as he got their meals from the food processor and waters for them both.

“Sure you can, sister,” he smiled despite himself. “Doesn’t mean I won’t help out.”

He got a small, tired but genuine smile in return - “Thanks, Carth.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
